The first inning was all you needed to see.
The Mets’ (18-20) journey to rock bottom reached another level during their 5-0 loss in the rubber match of a three-game set against Cincinnati Reds on Thursday afternoon.
Kodai Senga dug the Amazins into a hole from the get-go. The 30-year-old surrendered four runs in the top of the first as the Reds strung together a series of hits and walks capped off by Kevin Newman’s two-RBI single.
The right-hander managed to provide Buck Showalter some length going five innings but surrendered a solo shot to Spencer Steer as a parting gift in the bottom of the fifth. That left his final line at five innings with five earned runs and seven strikeouts.
“It’s a challenge for us,” Showalter said. “We didn’t score any runs today. I thought Kodai was a victim, you know, with a broken-bat flare to center and a check swing the other way and then kind of gets multiplied when we’re not scoring any runs…
“To give us the five innings [was huge] — I think there were two balls really hit hard off of him.”
Senga’s season ERA took a jump above four (4.14) with his ugly performance.
The Amazin’s lineup, however, did virtually nothing to make it a contest. The club mustered just six hits on the afternoon and one with runners in scoring position off the bat of Francisco Lindor to right field. But that resulted in Francisco Alvarez getting gunned down at the dish by Henry Ramos to end the top half of the seventh.
The offensive struggles have been one of the stark differences between the 2022 Mets and this year’s installment. Last season they were shut out eight times over the 162-game schedule. Thursday’s loss marked their seventh shutout of 2023.
“Hat’s off to the other teams that shut us out,” said Lindor. “That’s pretty much it, that’s all I got. I wish I had an answer for that one.”
Alvarez’s performance at the plate was the lone bright spot of the afternoon. The rookie continued his hot stretch going 2-for-4 with a double, the team’s only extra-base hit of the afternoon.
The backstop is 6-for-15 (.400) over his last five games. The 21-year-old ranks in the 91st percentile in framing according to baseball savant as he appears to be coming around during his second stint in the big leagues.
Showalter’s squad has now gone six straight series without coming out on top. The last time they won consecutive games was April 20-21 against the San Francisco Giants.
“You got to look at the past in order to not repeat it,” said Showalter. “We got to figure it out. Guys are pushing sometimes to a fault. Sometimes you can want something too much but I’m never going to pull that back. It’s frustrating for the guys.”
The club will try to right the ship beginning Friday as they take a trip to our nation’s capital to square off against the last-place Washington Nationals (16-21) at 7:05 p.m. Tylor Megill is scheduled to take the ball against southpaw Mackenzie Gore.